HOT PURSUIT

It’s been years in the making and now it has finally found its spot as the gatekeeper to southwestern Minnesota at the South Dakota border.

Luverne is home to the world’s largest nutcracker, Verne the Patriot. At 65 feet tall and standing on an 8-foot-tall base, the patriotic statue with a movable jaw is sure to draw in motorists from all over traveling past on nearby I-90.

Along with my mother and daughter, I had to check out this past weekend the jaw-dropping icon that was just erected earlier this summer. The giant nutcracker aims to be a landmark destination attracting tourists like us to the small farming community tucked in the corner of the state.

Truth be told, I have an obsession for nutcrackers. I’ve been collecting them since I was a child. My collection has expanded in recent years with motorized nutcrackers keeping watch over the house.

The standing wooden nutcrackers were first made in eastern Germany in the early 19^th century. After World War II, they became popular in the U.S. as many soldiers brought them home. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet popularized the figures. Today nutcrackers are made and displayed all over the world and feature almost every design imaginable.

But the newly constructed giant nutcracker overlooking I-90 is only part of this nutcracker tale. Just down the street in downtown Luverne is the Rock County History Center where there are to date 7,857 nutcrackers on display. It has grown by about 1,300 nutcrackers since I was last there two years ago.

“I’m the crazy old lady that started this,” says Betty Mann as she welcomes visitors to the History Center. She donated her collection of 2,500 nutcrackers several years ago, which is to blame for the grip nutcrackers have taken on Luverne.

In addition to Christmas nutcrackers, there are cabinets filled and piled to the ceiling with police officers, pirates, gnomes, snowmen, military and sports to name just a few. What’s ironic and magical about the collection is that there are no duplicates.

Mann sorts them all out, leaving any duplicates to be sold in the History Center’s gift shop.

She had fallen on hard times back in 2000 when she lost her husband and oldest daughter in the same year. During the following January, Mann decided she needed to treat herself with a belated Christmas present—a nutcracker.

“I always wanted a wooden nutcracker,” she said.

One soon became two, two became four and quickly the collection exploded by the dozens, then the hundreds and eventually the thousands. By 2023, she collected more than 2,500 nutcrackers.

Nutcrackers have expanded outside the museum’s walls. There are 7-foot statues around the downtown area. It has become quite the spectacle in Luverne, though Mann shared how some naysayers have grumbled about the city’s good fortune from the wooden collectibles.

Mann quells the criticism by pointing out how not a single tax dollar has ever been used for anything associated with the nutcrackers. A nonprofit organization, Just for Nuts, was formed and fundraised the $600,000 needed to build the giant cracker on the edge of town.

At 96, Mann volunteers most days at the History Center. She’s noticed an uptick in the number of people coming through lately once the World’s Largest Nutcracker joined the family. She also serves on the board of directors for the historical society.

Asked about her influence on the giant nutcracker, Mann brushed it off, saying she really didn’t have much to do with it. It’s obvious, however, Mann has built a nutcracker dynasty in Luverne and has had everything to do with it. Without her, there would be no 65-foot tourist attraction.

Her take on it?

“It’s unbelievable. I never dreamt it would be like this.”

It may be just for nuts, but you may want to consider going in hot pursuit of seeing the World’s Largest Nutcracker now home in Minnesota.